Texas Executes Mexican Despite 11th-Hour Outcry

Supreme Court rejects appeal in '94 murder
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 23, 2014 2:08 AM CST
Updated Jan 23, 2014 3:21 AM CST
Texas Executes Mexican Amid Protests
The family of slain Houston police officer Guy Gaddis enter the prison to witness the execution of Mexican national Edgar Tamayo last night.   (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

A Mexican national was executed last night in Texas for killing a Houston police officer, despite pleas and diplomatic pressure from the Mexican government and the US State Department to halt the punishment. Edgar Tamayo, 46, received a lethal injection for the January 1994 fatal shooting of Officer Guy Gaddis, 24. Asked by a warden if he had a final statement, he mumbled "no" and shook his head. Tamayo's lawyer had claimed he was mentally ill and developmentally disabled.

The execution came after the US Supreme Court and lower federal courts rejected last-day appeals and Texas officials spurned arguments that Tamayo's case was tainted because he wasn't informed, under the international Vienna Convention, that he could get legal help from the Mexican consulate after his arrest in the officer's slaying. "It doesn't matter where you're from," a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry said. "If you commit a despicable crime like this in Texas, you are subject to our state laws, including a fair trial by jury and the ultimate penalty." (More Texas stories.)

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